How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart
Week 11: Chapter 11 — Psalms, Wisdom, and Song of Songs
Read Chapter 11 of How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. Key texts: Psalm 22; Psalm 88; Proverbs 1:1–7; Song of Songs 1.
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The poetry of the Old Testament invites us to feel and express the full range of human experience before God — including the parts we have been afraid to bring to Him.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Fee and Stuart describe the Psalms as 'Israel's hymnbook and prayer book' — texts written to be sung and prayed, not primarily to be analyzed for doctrinal content. How does this description change how you read (and use) the Psalms?
2.The authors identify several major types of Psalms: hymns of praise, laments, thanksgiving psalms, psalms of trust, and psalms of celebration. Why does identifying the type or genre of a specific psalm matter for reading it correctly? Pick a psalm you love and try to identify its type.
3.Fee and Stuart devote significant attention to the lament psalms, which make up the largest single category in the Psalter. They note that laments often move from raw complaint to expressed trust, but not always — Psalm 88 ends in darkness with no resolution. What do you make of God's decision to include such unresolved laments in Scripture?
a.Have you ever felt the spiritual permission to pray a lament honestly to God? What happened?
b.What does the presence of lament in Scripture tell us about what faith actually looks like?
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